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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

This was my birthday week. We didn't have great weather, like I always hope for, but it was a great week all the same.

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I booked our family vacation this week, too. The cottage in the photo is the wonderful place we have stayed for the past couple years. It's one of my favorite places.

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When I first decided to start Project Life, I ordered the Big Variety Pack 1. When I got it I put all the pages in my album randomly (mostly). I've exchanged pages here and there, but for the most part stuck with the order I threw in there. This was the first time I had to work with the 6x6 squares. I really wasn't sure how I felt about this layout at first. I didn't use all the pictures I printed, because I misjudged what would fit, but in the end I really liked how they turned out.

Week 11:

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I love how the gardening layout turned out. We worked so hard in our new garden this Spring. It didn't ALL work out, but this week it looked beautiful and everything was beginning to bloom.

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Most of this layout is St. Patrick's Day. We had SUCH a wonderful day. The boys got to ride their tricycle for the first time and John got some really wonderful pictures of the boys and I. I even managed to cook a great Corn Beef and Hash. The You Are My Lucky Charm was a lunch note freebie from Amy Stoffel.

Monday, October 29, 2012

First, I would like to apologize. I hate thinking about Christmas before December even hits, but our year gets completely insane towards the holidays (doesn't everyone's) and so I try to start thinking of gifts early so I can enjoy spending time with my family. The holidays are SO much more fun and relaxed when all the presents are purchased.

Melissa and Doug is one of my favorite places to go for gifts. Their toys are so durable and always encourage imaginative play. They are so much better than most of the plastic, battery powered stuff out there and my kids LOVE playing with all of it.

This year Melissa and Doug introduced personalized gifts. Like me, my boys have rather slightly unusual names, so finding things with their names is pretty hard. Munch just started writing his name and gets excited when he recognizes his name on something. We may use our last name on some personalized items as they get handed down, but either way I was super excited to hear that Melissa and Doug was offering this service. Munch and I were looking at all the stuff they offered this morning and he already has a list. Here are some of our favorites:
We have been watching a lot of Doc McStuffins and my boys LOVE their pediatrician...so this Doctor's Costume is fantastic.

Munch started writing to his friend in Austin this year and so he loves the mail now. This cute mailbox would be perfect for the boys to play mailman.﻿

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We have been working on writing and spelling so I really think this see and spell game would be awesome. ﻿

We haven't flown with the boys yet, but they (as with most kids) are fascinated by planes. Munch got very excited when he saw this set and said he NEEDED it. ﻿

At $1.99 per item, personalization is really affordable and Melissa and Doug has a HUGE selection. Can't wait to go shopping with them this season.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

I ended up getting five weeks worth of pictures printed this week, but I don't want to overflow this post, so I decided to stick with two weeks at a time. I'm really please with how I've been able to speed up my process. Not exactly sure HOW I've managed to do it, but I'm happy! Hopefully I can keep it up.

Week 8:

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The first picture is one that Munch took right before we left for our morning walk. Have I mentioned I LOVE using his photos in this project?

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Week 8 was a very sad week for us. We lost John's grandmother. She was a HUGE part of his life and we all loved her dearly. She will always be missed and hold a large part of our hearts.

Week 9:

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Week 8 was the first week of Munch's art class and instead of putting the actual artwork in, I decided to photograph the pictures and put add them to Project Life that way. This week he drew a fat purple caterpillar. It's one of my two favorites he did during the class.

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One of the things I do when trying to get up to date on Project Life is go through all my sent/received emails from that week. Seriously, I don't get rid of ANYTHING...although this has been a great way to clear out my emails. It's been interesting to see the memories I find hidden in those files and the ones that I recall when looking over the photos from that week. SO SO happy I started doing this.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Last Friday as part of our celebration for Munch's birthday we took the kids to Storybook Ranch in McKinney. Kids are $15 and adults get in free with a paid kiddo.

The fun includes:

Running around their pumpkin patch

(full speed prefered so Mama goes nuts trying to get two good pictures)

A wagon ride through a cute little western town,

built using old buildings that were moved to the location. Sadly didn't get any pictures of it...maybe next time.

A hay maze.

Pony rides and a petting zoo.﻿

Munch got to ride two of the ponies and would have taken one home if he had been allowed. Nox learned pretty quickly that while goats don't mind being pet on the horns...it's perhaps not the best idea.

And TWO bounces houses and a slide.

There was no time limit and I think the only reason we left when we did is because we managed to convince the boys they were STARVING....not sure they were, but we certainly were. The Ranch was totally worth going to and I'm sure we'll be going next year. When the boys get older we may even go for the Hauted Wagon Ride. ﻿

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

I don't have any finished pages to share this week. I was busy with Munch's 4th birthday and party so Project Life kinda took a back burner. Pictures from weeks 8 and 9 are ready to be printed and placed in their protective holders, just need to do it.

At the moment they look a little like this:

Joplin is sleeping on a box lid for my husband's Magic cards...

She obviously doesn't care that she was in the way.

Thought I would also share my little boxes of supplies.

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I use an Anthropologie gift box for my 3x4 cards and a faux cigar box for my 4x6 cards and some misc memory items. My mini paper cutter has been a life saver while doing this project. I have a large box full of paper scraps that I have been slowly cutting down to Project Life size. The uncut cards in the corner are from Miss Tiina. Her work is really fun and cute and she has a TON of free fonts that I only just discovered today. Next week I should have weeks 8 and 9 ready to share...probably more, but I'm thinking I'll keep it to two at a time.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Yesterday, my sweet Munchman turned FOUR. I've been having a little trouble dealing with my kiddos getting older this year. I love watching them grow and learn, but my heart breaks that they aren't babies anymore. Munch insists that he is a BIG kid.

A month or so ago, Munch decided he wanted a Halloween Party for his birthday. I was SUPER excited. Halloween is my favorite holiday.

First, Lyndon helped me put together an invite.

We used a Celebrate Card Template from Scrapping with Liz and a mix of several different Halloween freebies I've collected over the years. I tried to list them all but it is quite a list so if you have any questions on them, PLEASE feel free to ask.

I stressed forever about the cupcakes at the party...and failed to get a single picture. Then when I was putting this post together I realized I really didn't get as many detail shots as I would have liked. But here they are.

The monster cake pops were my favorite. I made red velvet - chocolate chip pops...so they had a fun red center...and did you know you can buy edible eyes? I didn't...so I was excited when I found them.

Instead of favors I set up the kitchen table with foam pumpkins and stickers.The kids had a blast decorating them. Papa stuck some on the kitchen window and Nox has been calling it our pumpkin patch all day.

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Thanks for all the lovely comments I received last week! I'm so glad everyone likes my pages.

I did a lot of hand journaling for these two weeks. I don't really like using my handwriting in scrapbooking usually...because I panic when I mess up, but I decided to just deal with it this time and I really like how these pages turned out.

Week 6:

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I really like the warholized picture on this page. If you want to warholize yourself check out Warholize Me out. It's fun just to play around with.

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Had fun doodling on one of the journal cards and even more fun doing a blanket stitch around another. The embroidery is all using thread from my husband's grandmother's stash...including the embroidered journal card. :o)

Week 7:

We were on our second week of being miserably sick...I went through emails from this week and week 6 and it was just awful and sad. I'm not sure how I managed to get any decent pictures. We did get better at the end of this week which was great because I would have been heart broken if we missed The Color Run. I found an album kit I received ages ago when I was getting monthly packages from Club Scrap and the page protectors were PERFECT for our racing bibs. Yay!

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This was the week of Valentine's Day. My husband had off, but I'm pretty sure all four of us spent the day on the couch...only moving if we absolutely had to. Hubby did post a Game of Thrones Valentine on my Facebook wall though. We finally got better just in time for The Color Run.

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The Color Run. LOVE this page. LOVED the run. Took most of my journaling for it from when I blogged about it HERE. Totally doing this again. Doing this page really made me remember how much fun we had.

Here's week 5. The insert is a "graduation" certificate Munch got when he completed a Lego class he was in. The blue journal square is about our pup Kaiser going to "boarding school". I tried to get creative and use his paw as a stamp, but you can't really tell. I went with it anyway.

Here is week 5 without the insert.

Week 5 Page 2. I used 3 pictures that Munch actually took. I love that I can put his photography to good use in this project.

I created an 8x10 layout for a few of the pictures I took during a walk at the park.

That wraps up weeks Four and Five. Now that I have my computer back, I hope I can get even more caught up. I'm hoping to continue to post 2 weeks at a time until I'm completely caught up.

I'll be linking this blog up to Project Life Tuesday over at The Mom Creative.
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